Monday, January 27, 2014

Enjoying a couple of days off from school because of the wind chills. We are having -35 to -40 today and -40 to -50 tomorrow...brrr

I will enjoy my days off, but am sure it won't be as nice working longer this summer...so far we have three days to make up and the winter is not over yet!

Picture from the patio door in the kitchen, at least the flowers are cover well with snow so the cold temps won't hurt them.

The third Sunday of each month our church has a Fellowship dinner, it is always so fun to see what different dishes there will be. Some Sundays there is more than we can eat and others we worry if there will be enough, but it always works out. It is a nice time to sit and visit and get to know people better and just enjoy each others company.

This month I made two new recipes a crock pot chicken and a Flan Cake. The chicken recipe was given to me from my neighbor, is easy to make and we really like it. The Flan Cake was from Cooks Country on tv, Bob thought it looked very interesting and wanted me to make one. It was good, very rich, and takes a while to make.

Magic Chocolate Flan Cake

It is called magic because when you put it into the bundt pan the caramel sauce goes in first, then the chocolate cake mixture, then you pour the Flan on top, during baking the chocolate and flan change places.

The chocolate cake on top of the caramel sauce.

In the oven after the flan was poured on top and bundt pan put into a roasting pan with water.

With baking and cooling it takes about eleven hours from start to finish.

The recipe and a video of the show can be found on Cook's Country web sight.

The Crock Pot Chicken is much easier!

Start with 4 to 6 chicken breast and place them in the crockpot.

Mix together in a separate bowl one can golden mushroom soup, one can of water, 1/2 of an 8 oz container of cream cheese with chives and onion, 1/4c. butter (melted), 1 pkg. dry mix Italian or ranch dressing, 1/2 c. white cooking wine.

Pour over chicken, cook on low for 7 hours if chicken is frozen or 4 hours if chicken is thawed.

After it is cooked shred the chicken, I added cooked Penne Rigate noodles to mine.

In the original recipe you do not add any water, so it is much thicker and can be served over angel hair noodles, rice, or served on rolls. I have made it both ways now and we enjoyed them both. Adding the water and noodles made it nice for the Fellowship dinner.

This is the day which, the Lord hath made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

I couldn't help but think of this verse this cold morning, I am rejoicing that I can be home where it is warm today!

Friday, January 10, 2014

2013 was a hard year but also a blessing. A couple of the hard parts where my cousins husband pasted away then a few months later my aunt and my sister passed away on the same day in June. But we can say through it all God has been good.

2013 was a milestone for me turning 60 in September, I look back and wonder where have the years went.

For my birthday my DH took me on a little road trip up to Door County, one of my favorite places to go. We stopped at different quilt shops along the way.

Some roadside stands. Had to find my caramel apple and this was the place.

The final destination was the Christmas shop in Door County.

Before Christmas we celebrated both of the grandson's birthdays. Always fun having them around, the boys have always hopped up on the counter when I am in the kitchen to watch what I was doing or to help. As they have gotten older this habit has not been broken but now it has become their place to sit and talk while grandma cooks or bakes. We have had many a good conversation.

They tell me that they will never be to old to hop up and have a visit, that makes this grandma's heart happy.

It was good being off from school for Christmas break, so good celebrating Christmas with family and friends. Our daughter was able to come home for a couple of days, family was home for Christmas.

January 2nd came way to fast, and with it the cold weather. We had two days of school then had two days off because of the cold weather.

The -25 below wouldn't have been bad, it was the wind chills of -45 to -50 that made things hard. Very happy to be safe and warm at home on those days. Today we are to hit 30 and have some snow.

I look forward to see what the Lord has for us in 2014.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good